"ALRIGHT, FOLKS, THIS IS IT!" A Booming and energetic voice explodes through the speakers set up around the enormous stadium. A deep and gravely voice, like someone who spent too much time smoking and decided now would be a good time to start screaming for their entire life. "WELCOME TO THE VYTAL FESTIVAL'S FIRST ROUND OF THE HUNTSMEN BRACKET!" The crowd erupted into a ceremonious cheer, whoops and hollers came from all corners of Remnant as people tuned into the match from home. "I AM YOUR ANNOUNCER, VULCO DENTRES, LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS YOU F ҉ ҉ KER!" A loud, annoying BEEEP filled the arena. Of course, this of all events was kid friendly. "THIS IS THE HIGHEST STAKES BRACKET IN THE TOURNAMENT AND IT SHOULD NOT DISAPPOINT! PREPARE YOURSELVES, IN THIS FIRST ROUND, WE'VE GOT A GRADUATE OF ATLAS AND A GRADUATE OF BEACON! OUR FIRST COMBATANT IS MERLETTA YORU! OUR SECOND COMBATANT IS BROND OSILGRIN! BOTH OF THESE COMBATANTS HAVE PREFORMED AMAZINGLY IN THE PAST, LET'S SEE IF THEY CAN KEEP IT UP! ENOUGH ABOUT THEM, LET'S GO TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL SPINNER! DEREK, YOU'D BETTER HAVE IT LAND ON SOMETHING INTERESTING THIS TIME! .... IT'S RANDOM!?" The crowed cheered, signalling the beginning of the end for the third year 2v2 rounds.

A large holographic image of a lottery machine appears on all sides of the arena, with two spinners. The spinners spun so quickly, making it nearly impossible to make out the passing words. It ticked through the options slower and slower until it finally stopped on Vertical and Mountain.

"THAT'S A LOT OF HEIGHT!"

The floor of the arena lowered and, in its place, arose two new floors. Merletta's half became an arrangement of floating platforms, some with walls and some without, floating at different heights, meanwhile Brond's side became a large mountain, complete with trees populating its sides and base. (Brond will start atop the mountain)

Just then, the doors on each side of the arena opened and, from them, out strolled the combatants.

(A coin flip decided Brond gets the first post. The arena size is that of the 1v1 arena in the show, and features scaled down biomes. Good luck, contestants.)

Brond grinned in hopeful expectation of a good fight. This was going to be one of the few times he could ever let loose with his semblance, and he planned to take full advantage of it. The giant bear faunus had chosen to leave behind his signature greaves and chest plate, keeping only the gauntlets in way of armor. He figured that if winning was aura-based, he's only need his gauntlets for their offensive capabilities. Brond took off at his top speed, which was a pretty slow jog, down the mountain he was standing on. As soon as he was in range, Brond activated his semblance on tier 1, and his entire body was enveloped in reddish/yellow flames. He brought his massive blade up in a diagonal sweep, sending out a line of flames at Merletta, and then opened his mouth and followed it up with a short blast of his fire beam.

(Line of fire would be 3% aura damage, and the fire beam would be something like 9%)

Merletta saw the line of fire heading toward her and started a plan in motion. She took the fire hit and used her Semblance to create a smoke screen and leave a small smoke version of her in the line of fire from Brond's mouth beam. She unholstered one of her Thorn pistols and eyed the bear man. "You really thought it would be that easy? Let's see how well you face perfection." She gleamed as she lined a shot and fired, placing her hand on the hilt of Edge.(3% if the bullet hits.)[97% Aura.]

Brond tried to get his sword into position to block, but the bullet was too fast and hit him in the shoulder. He shrugged off the hit as if it were nothing though, and charged Merletta. Brond brought his sword up and over his back, attempting to make a diagonal slash across Merletta's chest. He simultaneously kicked his semblance into tier 2, causing a wave of force to ripple off of his body.

(18% aura damage on hit, and 7% for the line of fire if she dodges but is still in its line of fire.)[97% Aura.]

As Brond brought his sword to Merletta, she drew Edge in its Raze Lighter configuration and clashed blades with him. Once she managed to move his blade away from her, she activated the electric dust attached to the blade and used shadows to get to a better position. She then fired a large arc or electricity at Brond, having taken damage from the fire already on the field. "I must say, you're actually giving me a bit of a challenge. I like that. And that sword of yours is not to bad either. Mind if I take a look after?" She managed to crack a smile as she held Bolt Caster in her hands.(12% aura damage and shock if the arc hits.)(90% Aura.)

(Just saying, Brond's sword can't really be parried normally. Thanks to the weight of the blade and how strong he is, he kind of breaks normal swords with the sheer force of his attacks.)

Brond tried, but was unable to avoid the electrified blade. As it collided with his aura the electricity discharged into his body. Brond stumbled back a few steps so that he was at the base of the mountain, but he quickly recovered from the shock. He then swung his burning blade clean through the trunk of a small tree to his left. He grabbed the tree, setting it on fire as he did, and then hurled it at Merletta horizontally so that it flew parallel to the ground. It left in its wake a huge trail of fire that blanketed the ground

(20% aura damage if Merletta gets hit by the burning tree, and 7% for the fire on the ground.)[85% aura]

Using her Semblance to see as though she took the tree, Merletta jumped to one of the vertical platforms near them and hid behind a wall. She put Edge back into it's sheath and pull out both Thrones, configuring them into the SMG form. She knew the fire would not stop and needed a way to focus on that as well. Know she could not use her Semblance soon after the smoke decoy, she fired a couple shots over the wall as she jumped between platforms, trying to be as untargetable as possible.(5% aura from smg volly)(90% Aura)

Brond was immediately wary when the tree seemed to hit Merletta but she simply seemed to disappear. He held his sword up sideways in a defensive manner and deactivated his semblance to conserve energy. He looked warily around for his enemy. If it was a decoy, she couldn't have gone very far, so he kept his gaze on her side of the arena. As soon as he heard her gunfire, he shifted his blade, barely blocking the bullets in time.

Brond grinned as he approached the platform he had seen her disappear behind. "You said you were interested in my sword? It's nothing much, but it get's the job done," Brond said as he crouched down on the nearest ground to the platform. The giant bear faunus then exploded upwards in a quite literal sense. His jump upwards would not have been very impressive, but as he began to lose speed he activated his semblance on its first power level, using the wave of force to keep moving upwards. He did this again with the second and third stages of his semblance in what amounted to an incredible display for the audience and a very loud way for Brond to get to Merletta's platform.

The burning giant didn't make it all the way onto the platform, and had to both ram his sword into its side and grab onto the edge of the platform. Regardless, it was enough to let Brond's head stick out over Merletta's cover. He immediately opened his mouth and a white beam of flame shot out of his mouth at Merletta.

(23% aura damage if she gets hit with the full force of the blast. 15% if it clips her, and an extra 9% if she stays in close proximity to Brond.)

The beam of fire smashed into Merletta's aura, quickly reducing it by a huge chunk and pushing her backwards a bit. Unlike the first blast from his fire beam, Brond did not stop after the first blast but simply continued as Brond hoisted himself onto the platform so that he towered over his opponent. He was beginning to feel the strain from his semblance building, but he didn't need to worry about it yet.

(32% damage from the autohit and staying near Brond, so Merletta's now at 58%. Another 23% if she doesn't move, and another 9% if she stays close to him.)